I am a fan of Posey’s writing – see my reviews of his Outrider series – Outriders and Sungrazer. So I was delighted when last year I had the opportunity to read and review Every Sky a Grave, which took his writing to a new level – would I enjoy the next book in the series as much?
BLURB – Truncated: Far in the future, human beings have seeded themselves amongst the stars. Since decoding the language of the universe 8,000 years ago, they have reached the very edges of their known galaxy and built a near-utopia across thousands of worlds, united and ruled by a powerful organization known as the Ascendance. The peaceful stability of their society relies solely on their use of this Deep Language of the cosmos.
Elyth—a former agent of the religious arm of the Ascendance, The First House—is on the run after the events of Every Sky a Grave, when she and the fugitive Varen Fedic exposed the darker side of Ascendance hegemony on a planet called Qel. Though she just wishes to put the past (and Varen) behind her, she is soon tracked and cornered by the Ascendance agents – will she manage to escape?
REVIEW: Don’t read the full blurb for this one – it contains far too many spoilers regarding Elyth’s initial adventures. And if you have picked this one up without having first read Every Sky a Grave, it’s not a major problem. Some time has passed since the events of the first book, and Posey is sufficiently skilled that you can quickly work out what is going on without needing to know about Elyth’s previous adventures. That said – I think this is an outstanding series, so I’d advise that you read it, anyway.
As with the first book, I was struck by Elyth’s nuanced and subtle characterisation. She is very capable, but spends a lot of time quietly observing from the sidelines – and such characters are tricky to write. It’s all too easy to make them appear overly passive, or plain boring and Elyth is neither. It doesn’t hurt that once again, I was swept up in the cracking story, full of adventure and tension. Which meant I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on for a large portion of the book – other than it wasn’t anything good…
But who is responsible? Could it be the recklessly dangerous Varden? Or maybe one of the scarily clever scientists working for the ruthless organisation partly responsible for running the Ascendance. And amongst the elite team put together to investigate this latest crisis were some thoroughly likeable people who I didn’t want to see either hurt, or find out they’re the villains. Posey’s vivid descriptions of the rogue planet brought the landscape to life in all its threatening beauty. And he has the knack of writing routine so that it’s still gripping, which gives the action scenes extra shock value when they appear to come from nowhere.
All in all, this was an outstanding read. I got to the point where I had nearly finished the book and I didn’t want such a thoroughly satisfying reading experience to end – and that’s when I know I’m in the middle of something special. Very highly recommended for all science fiction readers – and those who enjoy a gripping adventure. While I obtained an arc of Every Song is a Star from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10
Lovely review, and I love the UK cover, which is very different from the US cover😁 Definitely curious about this series.
Thank you, Tammy:)). Yes – I noticed the US cover, which I really like, too. This series has really made an impact…
I’ve now marked this series as “want to read” because you more than piqued my interest here: vast galactic empires, an all-encompassing organization that sounds quite shady and an intriguing heroine – I could I not be curious? 😉
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Maddalena! And the use of Deep Language is also very interesting…
If you recommend it I need to get it on my list.
Thank you, Anne:)). I hope you manage to get around to this duology – I’d love to hear what you think about it.
This book sounds really interesting. I suppose I should add the first from this series to my ever-growing TBR.
Oh yes – do try and lever this duology onto your TBR. Both books are remarkable reads – I absolutely love the writing… So accomplished and different.
I added the first book to my Goodreads “want to read” list, so I don’t forget about it. Whether I get around to reading it… Let’s say that my Kindle is swelling with books waiting to be read (on the other hand, it might turn out that 90% of them are DNFs and my queue will clear 😉 ).